RI BLM on Rise of the Moors: “These guys have a point”

The nation was introduced to the bizarro ideologues from the Rise of the Moors over July 4 weekend, after 11 of the group’s members were arrested with a small arsenal of rifles and body armor after an hours-long standoff on I-95 in Wakefield, MA. The group calls Pawtucket home and the members in question were allegedly traveling to Maine for “training” when they ran out of gas on the side of the highway. Oops.

Likely because of the holiday weekend, the national reaction has been muted. On the other hand, because the Rise of the Moors as a group hardly fits into existing ideological narratives, the story as a whole gets swept into the dustbin. Locally though, the coverage has continued, starting with a surreal arraignment proceeding and this story in the Boston Globe from Tuesday night.

For those behind the paywall, the leader of BLM Rhode Island, Gary Dantzler, seems to think the Rise of the Moors are onto something:

‘“White America has one agenda — that is the court system of white supremacy. It’s been ruled over 500 years,” Dantzler said. “So now that these guys [have] been around, since the ’40s and ’50s, they taught us about education, how to rise as Black people, that we don’t have to go under American’s law, because we’re Moors.”

“We have our own laws,” Dantzler said, explaining the group’s beliefs. “You guys got your laws. We have ours.”

…

People should be proud they have these people in the community,” Dantzler said of the Moors. “You got the Klan. You got the neo-Nazis, the Proud Boys. They’re here. So why can’t the Moors be here? We need them here. We need more Black people with guns. We need the protection. I think this shows it’s time for us to be liberated.

Dantzler is the head of an organization walking a fine line between open praise for a sovereign citizen group armed to the teeth in the forest and public collaboration with RI elected officials. FWIW, Dantzler makes the fundamental case for the right to bear arms in self-defense. Will any of this type of talk, especially a full throated defense the 2nd Amendment, scare away progressive politicians with aspirations for higher elected office? Time will only tell.